Abstract
AimsTo assess the impact of diabetes and frailty on self-rated health, depressive symptoms and quality of life (QoL). MethodsData were pooled for participants aged ≥50 years from five waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Measures included diabetes (self-reported), physical frailty (≥3/5 criteria), low self-rated health (SRH; “poor” or “fair”), depression (screened using the EURO-D ≥4) and low QoL (CASP-12 <35). Logistic regression was used to adjust for confounding. ResultsParticipants with diabetes (n=11,661/97,691) were more likely to be older (68 vs. 64 years, p<0.001), male (50% vs. 45%, p<0.001) and frail (21% vs. 8%, p<0.001). Age, sex, diabetes and frailty were all independently associated with low SRH, depression and low QoL. Frailty had the highest adjusted odds ratios for low SRH (9.43; 95% CI:8.89–10.02), depression (6.39; 95% CI:6.07–6.71) and low QoL (9.65; 95% CI:9.17–10.16). For diabetes, the adjusted odds ratios were 2.82 (2.70–2.95), 1.49 (1.42–1.56) and 1.67 (1.60–1.74), respectively. Participants with both diabetes and frailty reported the worst self-rated health, the most depression symptoms and the lowest QoL. ConclusionsFrailty was prevalent in older people with diabetes and independently associated with low self-rated health, depressive symptoms and low QoL. Prompt identification and management of frailty should be a key consideration in diabetes care.
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